Twelve

An alarm immediately blared from the military base.

“Condition Alpha!  Hellhounds!”

A set of lights inside the fence went dark with a loud pop followed by the sound of broken glass hitting the ground.

The fey, who had been lounging moments ago, jumped to their feet.

“Don’t shoot the fucking lights!” someone yelled from inside.

The three remaining lights went out rapidly, plunging everything into darkness.

Drav growled and didn’t stop running until he reached Timmy’s tent.  I set my hand on Drav’s chest, seeking comfort while trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

Around us, a soft blueish glow emerged from the dark as the fey’s crystals began to come to life.  The fey stood ready, studying the darkness.  My gaze shifted toward where they watched.  My eyes adjusted quickly, picking up the dark shape of the trees and the distant building across the road.  I realized I saw far more than I thought I should have been able to see.

Over the ringing of the siren, I heard the men yelling from inside the fence.

“Meyrs, get the replacement bulbs.  Davison, get the ladder.”

“I knew we couldn’t trust those grey skinned bastards!”

“We aren’t shooting out the lights,” I yelled back before turning my face toward Drav.  “Are we?”

“No.”

“Bullshit,” an angry voice called behind us.  “This is a fucking arrow shaft.  We use guns.”

“Find them,” Molev shouted.

Several groups of fey ran off into the darkness surrounding the camp just as another howl ripped through the air, barely audible under the siren’s wail.

The idiots were already dealing with hounds and possibly the two outlaws.  They needed to shut the siren off before the infected came, too.

Byllo emerged from the tent, holding a very frightened Timmy.  I reached out and patted the boy’s back.

The sirens stopped.  In the distance, an eerie howl rent the air followed by a chorus of others.

“Sounds like they found us,” I said softly.  I worried for the fey who’d left.  They had spears and bows while the humans behind the fence had guns and didn’t trust us.

The growls grew louder.  The group of remaining fey tightened their circle around Drav and Byllo.  I stayed still in Drav’s arms, trying to hear over the pounding of my heart.

Drav and Byllo’s gazes searched the dark, watching for the telltale flicker of red against the black of night.  Off to the side, toward the trees, I thought I saw movement.  But nothing emerged.

Pops sounded behind us, and I flinched.  The fey looked unfazed.

“What are they shooting at?” I asked.

“A hellhound approaches from the other side.”

As soon as Drav said the words, I spotted a dark shape trotting from the dark.  The flashes of light that punctuated each pop of a fired bullet didn’t faze the beast.  Either the shooters were missing or the bullets hitting its flesh didn’t faze this hound, just like the one back at the stadium.  With its gaze focused on the shooters, the monster growled low and charged the fence.

Six fey moved to intercept.  I clutched at Drav in fear for them as the guns continued to fire.

“Stop shooting!” I yelled.

The fey didn’t wait.  They ran at the beast while the Commander yelled for his men to hold their fire.  The gunfire quieted before the hound clashed with the first fey.  Grunts and growls filled the air as the fey struggled to grip the beast.  The hound sunk its teeth into a man’s arm.  The other fey used the distraction to impale the hound with a spear and pin it to the ground.  The bitten man punched the beast in the throat, still fighting for release.

Another howl came from the trees to our right.

“How many are there?” I asked, my eyes moving from the thrashing hound to the trees.

“I hear three. Do not fear, my Mya. No harm will come to you or Timmy.”

As he spoke another dark figure crept out of the woods.  Its glowing red eyes seemed to lock onto mine.  Dread formed a murky pool in my stomach.  The hound lowered its head as if getting ready to charge.

Six fey broke away to face off with the second hound.  Before they could reach it, another beast stepped from the barren undergrowth.  This one growled loudly and sprinted toward the fight.

Three of the fey jumped forward, trying to tackle the beast.  The other three stalked the first hellhound, waiting for it to charge.  It didn’t, though.

The burst of gunfire flared nearby us, and I ducked my head.  When I looked up, I saw that the hound near the trees was trying to creep around the fey.  The beast’s eyes were locked on Timmy and me, but the fey kept blocking the hound’s attempts to go around.  As the hound snapped its teeth in warning, another lone howl came from the darkness.

“Shit,” I said under my breath.

“Get those lights working!” someone yelled from inside the fence.

The dozen men fighting the hounds wouldn’t be enough.  I’d seen how a pack of hellhounds could slowly peck away at their numbers.  Numbers we couldn’t afford to lose.  While the main group of fey stood around Timmy and me, the rest struggled.  They needed to help their men.

“Drav, Timmy and I have to get inside.  We’ll be safer there and the rest can go help.”

The tussle of Timmy’s black hair moved in the blanket Byllo had wrapped around him.  Byllo’s gaze met Drav’s, and Byllo nodded before he sprinted for the gate.

Drav pressed a kiss to my temple and followed.  At the gate, the humans posted as guards lifted their guns, aiming it at Byllo and Timmy.  The fey roared at them.

“Lewis.  Eldridge.  Hold your fire,” a loud voice barked from behind them.

The guards immediately averted their weapons.  However, no one moved to open the gate when Byllo reached it.

“You have to let us in,” I yelled, only a little behind them.  “The fey will be able to focus on the hounds better without Timmy and me out here.”

The commander nodded sharply, and the gate rumbled open just enough to let Byllo slip inside.  Drav and I quickly followed.

While Byllo took Timmy further in, I asked Drav to stop.  We watched the fight outside the fence.

Some of the fey who had guarded us had split off toward the downed hellhound.  The first spear had snapped, and a second spear held the hound in place as the men continued to stab the beast repeatedly.  The thing didn’t stop growling or trying to bite them.

“Why isn’t it dying?” I asked.

“Our weapons do not kill them.”

His words sent a spike of fear through me.

I thought back to the hounds I’d seen Drav fight on the surface.  He’d run while both of them still moved.  Likewise, I hadn’t witnessed what happened to the hounds who’d chased us when we met up with Kerr before returning to Drav’s home.  Did that mean the hounds couldn’t die in the caverns or up here?

The group of fey fighting the two hounds to the right kept the creatures at bay while the rest worked to try to kill the pinned one.  My gaze swept the darkness, searching for more glowing red.  They were out there, somewhere, along with the groups of fey who had left to hunt them.

A flash of movement drew my attention to the left.  A fey had caught the crazed animal by its neck, reached around, and ripped its lower jaw off in a disgustingly familiar move.  The hound continued to make sounds and struggled to lunge for the fey as if unaware it could no longer bite.

The fey fell upon the beast, hacking at the creature.  I wanted to turn away but couldn't.  It was brutal to watch, but they had to find a way to kill it.  If they couldn’t, there was no hope for us humans.

Something slammed into the fence right in front of us, jolting my attention.  The volume of the hound’s snarls competed with the sound of its claws against the fence as it tried to climb its way in.  Drav stepped back and growled in return.  The men around us opened fire until the hound bled from multiple wounds.  The report of gunfire didn’t cease, each bullet mangling the beast’s flesh further until I could see inside of it.

A light flashed in the dark cavity of its body.  Not a normal bright light, but an unnatural dark glow.  A shiver raced through me as the sinister non-light shimmered again.

“Did you see that?” I said to Drav.

He grunted.

“Keep shooting at its chest,” I said.  “Where the heart should be.”

Tissue disintegrated under the fire until I saw bone, and the dark peeked through the mangled mess.

“Molev, look at its heart,” Drav said.

Molev and another fey rushed forward.  The firing stopped, but the hound didn’t.  It continued its attempt to claw its way through the fence unaware or uncaring of the two men approaching.  The fey crashed into the wounded hound and knocked it over.  The hound tried to jump back up, but Molev threw his arm around the beast’s neck, pinning it while keeping a safe distance from its snapping jaws.

The second man plunged his hand into the creature’s chest cavity.

“Hurry,” Molev barked.

The fey tugged twice before finally jerking back and pulling out a rugged, black rock from the hound.  The object pulsed with its darkness.  The hound continued to struggle, unfazed by whatever they’d removed. 

“What is that?” I asked.

“It looks like a crystal,” Drav said.

Molev strained to keep his hold, the muscles in his arms and neck bulging.

“Break it,” Molev said.

The fey wrapped his hands around the stone.  His arms flexed and the crystal on his wrist flared blue.  With a crunch, the black stone dissolved to black dust, and the hellhound stopped moving in Molev’s arms.

“Their hearts are their life crystals,” Molev bellowed.  “Remove them, and destroy them.”

While he tossed the dead hound aside and got to his feet, the fey dealing with the speared hound ripped out the same black stone and crushed it as well.

The floodlights flared to life behind us.  The remaining hellhounds yipped and ran back into the night.

The relief I felt in the destruction of the two hellhounds didn’t last long, though.  With the light, I could see the men.  The hellhounds had left their marks on so many of the fey.  So had the bullets of the humans within the fence.

“Put me down, Drav.”

He’d barely done as I’d asked when some asshole pushed him from behind.  Drav pivoted, facing the man.

“What the fuck do you think you were doing?” the man shouted.

“I accept your challenge,” Drav said with deadly calm.

“No, you don’t!”  I quickly tried to step around Drav, but he held me back with an arm.

“No challenge issued, right?” I insisted, looking at the man.

The guy didn’t take the hint as his challenging gaze stayed locked on Drav.

“Fuck if there wasn’t.  You almost got us killed.  Why?  To prove you could kill the hounds?”

”What are you talking about?” I demanded.  “You assholes hid behind this fence while the fey did all the work.  How does that translate to them almost getting your cowardly asses killed?”

The man held up several broken arrows.

“They took out our lights and brought the hounds.”

“Enough,” Commander Willis said, striding toward us.  “Go check the back fence.”  He held out his hand for the arrows.  The man surrendered them and walked off stiffly.

The Commander looked down at the broken shafts.

“We use guns,” he said.

“And they use spears and arrows.  So what?  I’ve already told you, they have two outlaws up here.  Those arrows weren’t fired by these fey, right here.”

“And you expect me to believe it was their outlaws?”

“Expecting anything in this world seems pretty pointless, but I’m telling you the truth.  These fey have traveled by day to avoid the hounds because of me and Timmy.  They wouldn’t shoot out lights and risk us.  And none of this would have been an issue if you’d let us in the fence where you could have clearly seen what we were doing, which was trying to sleep on the hard ground.”

The commander sighed, a soul-weary sound, and scratched under his jaw as he looked at the bodies of the fallen hounds.

“Infected we can handle if there aren’t huge waves of them, but those hounds…nothing we have slows them down, aside from a well-thrown grenade.  But they’re usually already out of the way before it detonates.”

He faced me.

“Collect any supplies you have and bring in your injured.  We’ll set you up in the training gym.  We don’t have enough beds for you all, but we’ve got a good supply of cots.”

“Open the gates,” he called.

While the fey helped their wounded inside, Byllo joined us. Timmy was still draped against the man’s shoulder, one little hand resting on Byllo’s neck.

“Are you okay?” I asked the little boy.

He shook his head.

“Did those dogs scare you?”

He nodded.

“Me too.  But we don’t have to sleep outside anymore.  We’ll be safer inside, okay?”

He nodded once more, and I wondered if he had any hope of growing up normal.

“This way,” the commander said when the men were inside.

He led us toward one of the larger buildings, stopping soldiers along the way with orders for them to round up all the unused cots and bring them to the training gym.

When we arrived, a few cots already waited.

“We house traveling families or groups seeking shelter until we can get them to a better equipped base.  Rest up.  We’ll talk in the morning.  More soldiers will be in with cots.”

After that, the man left.

The fey spread out, the wounded taking the cots.  I searched through our bags for the first aid supplies and went to work cleaning cuts, bites, and the occasional bullet hole.  Drav followed me around quietly, not trying to stop me from using what we’d gathered.

While I worked, Molev spoke to a couple of groups who nodded and went outside.

“Where are they going?” I asked Drav as I dabbed a cut over a fey’s eye.

The man held himself completely still and kept glancing at Drav.  They’d all done that.  I didn’t try to send Drav away, though.  Having him near comforted me, even in the midst of the fey who I knew would protect me to the last man.

“To guard the entrances.  Molev does not trust the humans here.”

“I don’t blame him.”

I added a bandage and stepped back from the injured fey.

“The cut probably needs stitches, but I don’t know how to do that.  Keep an eye on it.  If it starts oozing anything nasty, tell me.”  It was the same thing that I’d said to all of the fey I’d treated.

I turned, looking for anyone else who needed help.  The men lay spread out on the cots that had slowly appeared, courtesy of the commander.  Those without cots sat propped against the outer walls.  Most already slept.  No one else seemed to require my attention.

My eyes burned with the need for sleep, and I shuffled closer to Drav, leaning into him.

“Come,” he said.

Drav led me over to two cots pushed together and encouraged me to lie down.  I didn’t need much encouraging.

“Stay with me?”

“Of course, my Mya.”  He lay beside me and held my hand.

I drifted to sleep with his thumb rubbing up and down the back of my hand.

*    *    *    *

“Commander Willis will want to know more about the hounds and how to kill them,” I said before taking another bite of my plain oatmeal.

Byllo sat at the same table as Molev, Drav, and me.  He carefully fed Timmy each bite from their shared bowl.  Once the boy chewed and swallowed his current bite, he immediately opened his mouth for more.  I was pretty sure Byllo hadn’t eaten anything yet.

“He saw how to kill them.  The humans do not have the strength,” Molev said.

“Sure.  We know that.  But, it’ll take a while for them to come to that same conclusion.”

As if mentioning the commander had summoned him, the man walked through the door.  As he strode across the room, he addressed Molev.

“Your people can continue to rest here until the patrol returns with the supplies.  Meanwhile, I’d like to discuss a few things with you.”

Molev’s gaze shifted to me briefly before landing on a few of the fey.

“Azio and Ghua, come with me.”

The two fey stood and walked out with Molev and Willis.

I finished up with breakfast and glanced around the room.  The fey were resting, Timmy was in good hands under Byllo’s watchful eye, and we weren’t under any immediate threat.

“I wonder if there’s anywhere to shower,” I said, looking at Drav.  The bathrooms attached to our building just had toilets and sinks.

“Most of the humans here smell like soap,” Drav said.

I grinned.

“Then let’s see if we can find one.”

I stood, and Drav followed me outside.  I asked a soldier watching our building where I could find a shower.  The man led us to a different building.

Inside, not far from the entrance, the soldier opened the door to a locker room type space.  He pointed out the stock of supplies and the towels that filled a shelving unit just inside the door, then left with the warning that he’d check on us in ten minutes.

Drav and I took a quick shower together.  It felt good to really clean myself, but I hurried to rinse and dry, not wanting anyone to walk in.  Especially not with the healing bite still on my shoulder.  Once dressed, we left the shower room.

I thanked the man, who’d waited just outside the door, and Drav and I went to rejoin the others in their dining hall.

The fey we’d left there no longer sat at the tables quietly eating a meal I knew they found disgusting.  Instead, the bowls had been collected and stacked on one unoccupied table while the majority of the men gathered around a different table.  Human soldiers were crowded in with the fey, all focused on something I couldn’t see clearly.

Shouts of encouragement and a low murmur of conversation echoed in the room as I pushed my way forward, through their numbers, already suspecting what I’d find.

Four fey sat on one side of the table with four humans on the other.  Each pair had their hands clasped above the table’s surface.  Grins plastered the participant’s faces.

“Go!” one of the humans yelled.

The men were at a standstill for several seconds until the first fey grunted.  As one, the fey began pushing back on the humans.

Sweat dotted the forehead of each human.  Several bicep muscles quivered with effort.  They didn’t stand a chance.  Not in arm wrestling.  Not in any physical sport against the fey.  In short order, each fey brought his opponent’s hand to the table.  The fey grunted and grinned while the pairs shook hands.  The contenders switched out so four new sets could test each other’s strengths.

At the end of the long table, Byllo sat with Timmy.  In front of Timmy waited an open coloring book and a couple crayons.  Byllo had a crayon in his hand and followed Timmy’s gaze to the men arm wrestling.

Timmy twisted in his seat and mimicked the men further down the table, lifting his tiny elbow on the table and held his hand out for Byllo to take.  Byllo set his crayon down, gripping the toddler’s hand.

Timmy grunted loudly just like the men further down the table.  Byllo grunted and let Timmy knock his hand down to the surface.  Timmy’s delightful laughter filled the room, catching the attention of the other fey.  Soon more fey and even some of the humans came over and “challenged” Timmy.

I smiled.  Maybe there was hope that human and fey could co-exist, after all.